Student - September 27, 2007

Food safety popular in China

After the recent recall of unsafe children’s toys from China, food safety has now made its way to the top of the Chinese agenda. As a result, demand is rising for training offered by Wageningen International.

‘China’s interest in food safety training is growing,’ says Jan Fongers, the Asia account manager for Wageningen UR. Food safety is not just a matter of consumer health, however, but also affects the economic interests of exporters and processors.

The Chinese system of food safety inspection is not up to scratch, says Camiel Aalberts of Wageningen International. He gave food safety training to Dutch agricultural attaché assistants in Asia this summer. ‘Plans formulated at central government level are not implemented properly at local level. And the lack of an open culture means that problems remain hidden.’ According to Aalberts there was great interest in his training.

Others are also providing courses, such as RIKILT – Institute for Food Safety, which gives technical training on food safety management.